This past Saturday during a town hall meeting hosted by the South Carolina Legislative Black Caucus and moderated by NewsOne Now host Roland Martin, Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton shared her views on small business development and her desire to help women and minority business owners.

“My particular hope is that I can be the small business president, and I want to focus on women and minority-owned small businesses in our country,” Clinton said.

Hillary Clinton’s Jobs Plan would include:

Infrastructure Programs

Clean Energy Investments

Small Business Investments

In talking about infrastructure, Martin asked Clinton what she would do to help minorities gain traction in the construction industry, because historically, Blacks and Latinos have been “frozen out” of those jobs.

“We have two problems that unfortunately have the same result — where people are frozen out or equally importantly, not sought out. I want to make sure every training program is reflective of our population. I want to provide an apprenticeship credit to companies, to unions, to others to train young people,” she said.

She also highlighted the need for middle-aged Americans to be able to have access to the same training opportunities.

“Anywhere we do infrastructure, that if the federal government has any money into it, there must be a program for recruiting and hiring and, where necessary, training people from less advantaged communities,” she added.

When talking about the Small Business Administration (SBA) lending to only 1.7 percent out of $23 billion to African-Americans, Clinton said, “We’ve got to have a much more vigorous effort to reach out to and help people, number one, apply for the contracts that are available.”

“There is, and I agree with this, there is a preference in the law for small businesses that are minority and women-owned. I want to make sure that preference is translated into benefits that doesn’t just sit up on the books and that doesn’t have any results,” said Clinton.

Hillary Clinton: “You Should Not Be Denied A Job” Because Of Your Credit Score

There are an increasing number of Americans being denied jobs as a result of their credit reports and credit scores.

Roland Martin, Host of NewsOne Now, asked Sec. Hillary Clinton if she supports Rep. Maxine Waters’ bill that addresses the Fair Credit Act. In most cases, the bill would wipe out the requirements to have Americans go through credit checks when they are applying for federal jobs, to become federal contractors, or work at federal agencies.

Clinton told Martin she generally agrees with those ideas, but does not know the specifics of Rep. Waters’ bill addressing credit reporting.

She went on to make “two general points” about the situation, saying, “Sometimes credit reports are wrong.”

Clinton later added, “I think a lot of credit problems, particularly for young people, have to do with student debt, have to do with credit cards they had to use in order to be able to get their education.”

“I don’t think you should have credit reports following you around like some anchor you have to carry with you. So, yeah, I want people to be responsible, I want them to pay their debts, but I also want to make sure you got a second chance, and you should not be denied a job that has nothing to do with … your credit score,” said Clinton.

Home Foreclosure Crisis And Black Wealth:

In the past seven years 53 percent of Black wealth was wiped out as a result of the home foreclosure crisis. According to Sen. Elizabeth Warren, it will take two generations for African Americans to recoup the wealth that was lost.

Martin asked Clinton if she would force the Federal Housing Administration to”write-down the principal of underwater home owners” and if she would push congress to modify the bankruptcy code to push for “cramdowns in bankruptcy so that people who have homes can maintain those homes and we not simply bailout banks and not bailout home owners.”

Clinton explained, she “advocated for that in ’07 and ’08.” She added, “I was very unhappy that we did not do enough to help people who were in their homes, save their homes.”

Clinton continued, “I will look for ways to try to number one, stop the damage so that we don’t lose more homes because people still haven’t recovered, but number two, we’ve got to get back into the home ownership business and a lot of financial institutions are reluctant to loan and they’re more reluctant to loan to African Americans and Latinos.”

Black Lives Matter And Criminal Justice Reform:

Martin asked Sec. Clinton if she “fully understands” the sentiment expressed by those who have voiced their displeasure with the crime and welfare bills that were signed into law by her husband, President Bill Clinton.

Clinton told Martin, “I do understand the sense of frustration and disappointment and even outrage that young people like those that were in Atlanta last week feel because there’s a lot of things that need to be fixed and they’re impatient and they deserve to be impatient and they deserve to hear answers from people like me running for office — particularly president.”

Clinton went on to address the activist affiliated with the Black Lives Matter movement that disrupted the unveiling of her criminal justice reform plan saying, “I wish they had listened because a lot of what we have talked about together are part of the proposals that I am making.”